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From
the Critics
From:
Jonathan Treisman for Writer's Digest
The in-your-face cover practically orders a reader to pick
up the book. Set in Mexico, and based on the 1994 Chiapas
uprising, the story has a real immediacy to it. When we first
meet Peter (our protagonist) in a grungy south of the border
bar, we can almost smell the reek of piss and beer. Bailey
is equally persuasive setting scenes like the ones where revolutionaries
read about themselves in Newsweek and Vanity Fair. The love
story that happens between Peter and Lxil (a strong female
character with a nearly magical name) is believable and engaging.
From Midwest Book Review
Set amid the Zapatista revolution of the 1990s through
the present day, Zapatista is a novel about
a writer who gets caught up in the struggle for the poverty-stricken
Native Americans of Mexico. In the middle of guns, bloodshed,
and the hope for a more equal tomorrow, he falls in love with
a beautiful Native woman and his life changes forever.
Zapatista documents Blake Bailey as a gifted writer of
memorable fiction who is able to make his characters live
and their surroundings form an impressive context for original
storytelling. A portion of the proceeds from Zapatista will
be donated to the Zapatista movement in Mexico.
From
Oye Magazine
Zapatista is historical fiction loosely based on incidents
surrounding the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas. It tells
the story of Peter, who travels to a small village in Chiapas
in order to escape the hustle and bustle of the corporate
world. His utopian dreams of writing novels in the jungle
take a turn for the worse and he is soon forced to trade in
his typewriter for a gun in order to support the Zapatistas.
Blake Bailey provides a skillful and convincing depiction
of the people involved in the Zapatista movement, the events
of 1994, and even the Chiapas jungles. He puts you right smack
in the middle of the action and you soon develop admiration
and empathy for the strength and character of the Zapatistas.
The only problem is the ending. The very imperialism that
Bailey implicitly denounces rears its ugly head as the White
protagonist, Peter, conquers the elusive heart (and body)
of a local Indian girl.
Reader Feedback
A
reviewer, an avid book reader, September 25, 2001
Very good book I read the book and found it very entrapping,
(i finished it in one week), living in Texas there is a lot
that goes on in mexico that i was not aware of, this book
helped a lot, however the review listed below kind of missed
the picture... (i don't want to spoil it for you) so i wont
go into detail but the relationship between peter and the
indian woman was anything but forcing U.S. culture on the
indian woman.
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